Trashy behavior

May 4th, 2009, 12:19 PM

Yesterday (Sunday) turned out to be better weather than was advertised, so I went down to SeaTac to meet up with Chuck for a round. Nice day, the course was looking in good shape, even if the grass is getting a little long already. I noticed a couple garbage bags here and there where there'd been some cleanup done apparently, and indeed the course looked to be mostly trash free. Someone had put out new tee signs...simple fence boards it looked like, with a little map staple-gunned to them. There was even a nice new bench on hole 9. Nice job whoever was responsible! (Jub?)

So walking from 9, we came to hole 10 (crazy, huh?). Those trash bags I mentioned earlier? Someone had emptied out the whole thing, found every glass bottle, and smashed it around the teepad. Chuck and I did what we could to clean it up a bit, but seeing things like dog poo bags and dirty diapers, we didn't want to touch anything without gloves. Besides the bench being gone on #13, I didn't notice much else amiss in that round.

Chuck had to go home after that, and I joined up with the Fletchers for a second one. In the span of time between me coming through the second time, many of the tee signs had been removed. The posts were still there, but the paper had been ripped off. Strange thing was that there was no sign of the signs themselves, no bits of paper in the fairways or anywhere around the teepads, that I could see. We came back through hole 10, to see the wreckage there. As if all the trash and broken glass all over the place weren't enough Adam and Sarah noticed something as we were putting out...something disturbing.

Whoever this/these douchebag(s) is/are smeared shit all over the chains and pole of the basket. I'm not speaking metaphorically here...I'm talking genuinely brown and foul excrement. For my own peace of mind, I'm going to insist that it was dog shit, but anyway you cut it, its flat out disgusting. Whoever did this knew enough about disc golf to know what teepads, baskets, and tee signs were, so I guess it's possible a disc golfer did this. But I can't imagine any disc golfer, no matter how disrespectful, would actively glop fecal matter onto a basket.

Anyone know anything about this or who might be responsible? Chuck and I saw a kid, maybe 14 years old, messing around in the woods. Chuck stopped him from beating on a sapling, but he didn't strike me as the type who'd do all the handiwork we saw.

It just pisses me off to see someone's hard work at improving the course being so disrespected. I mean, it's one thing to litter...that's being a lazy asshole. But to actively make the course worse...that's taking it to a whole new level.

Comment

Gross! It sounds like someone who might have a lot of anger issues against us (dg players). That makes me nervous about going to places that it is possible that someone has chosen to make it worse. (shivers!!!)

Comment

I was at the Tac yesterday, and the poop is still there. I'm going to try to clean it off today with 409, nitrile gloves, and a gallon of water.

SeaTac needs more DG presence to help dissuade vandals. I vote alt pads for more playability/universal appeal. I want people to play Seatac first, then go to Lakewood when they're bored, not the other way around.

The only thing miraculous about ICP is the fact that their children look like them...

Comment

This is very strange and horrible... It seems like there is someone who really isn't friendly with disc golf... While I was at work earlier this week, I got a phone call from a fellow golfer and he said he was out at my home course (terrace) and that all of the baskets had huge tree limbs, branches, and garbage shoved in to all the baskets. He was talking about how he couldn't believe how much effort it must have taken to do this to so many baskets, simply because he couldn't believe how much it took him to clean it all up...

Comment

Chuck.. Thank you for taking the time to step up and clean the toughest park in WA! All hands on deck.. we need to follow up!

i totally agree with Mystjava, THANK YOU CHUCK!!!

with a bit more attention, Sea Tac would be the best course around aside from stiellicoom. i dont know why people play lakewood before seatac! if i had to choose between them i would NEVER choose lakewood first.

maybe if the disc golfers in the area would show up in large numbers at the city council meeting, and ask that the park be looked after a bit more it would help.

maybe there should be a disc golf GANG that hangs out there, and doesnt let anybody mess with their territory. just like any other gang. vandalize in the night and you get beaten with pipes and chains.

You're welcome everybody. I have been waiting for quite some time for the chance to really give something back to the sport. When I saw all that smeared shit on the basket and chains I knew this was my golden-brownish opportunity. It was as if the diaper-wielding fecalphiliac had me specifically in mind as he decorated 10 in the shiny excrement.

It's funny- the poo wasn't too hard to clean up, but all the broken glass around the tee pad was a bitch.

I think it would benefit DG courses across the nation if we all adopt a different attitude towards glass containers on the course. For courses like Seatac that have trash bins, golfers tend to place beverage waste inside (good). Kids then come along, scavenge the bottles, and smash them against the nearest available slab of concrete, the tee pad (bad).

I'd like to see golfers (who drink while they play) gear down their tastes a bit and just bring unbreakable cans. For those who can't abide by canned beer, make sure you pack out your empties, instead of leaving ammunition for the kids.

Every other type of trash is simple to clean up and safe as kittens in comparison to broken glass. Anyone can easily pick up a discarded beer can during a round, but one shattered bottle requires a much more coordinated effort to clear up. One rarely comes to the course armed with gloves and numerous baggies to hold glass shards. It's much less convenient to clean, therefore builds up until it requires an actual work party to remove the refuse.

Can we all begin to develop this habit, so in the future it is a well-known tribal DG law? No glass on the course, unless you're willing to pack it out?

This would be easier to implement if they canned Deschutes...

The only thing miraculous about ICP is the fact that their children look like them...

Comment

You're welcome everybody. I have been waiting for quite some time for the chance to really give something back to the sport. When I saw all that smeared shit on the basket and chains I knew this was my golden-brownish opportunity. It was as if the diaper-wielding fecalphiliac had me specifically in mind as he decorated 10 in the shiny excrement.

Chuck Evans, ladies and gents, proving that you really can polish a turd. Good job though, Chuck, it's bad enough that my putting stinks in the figurative sense, no need to take it to the literal.

The aluminum-only ethos is one I can support. Not only are the containers unbreakable, but a hell of a lot lighter and more compact for those that have to clean them up afterwards. Not to mention, more discreet for carrying around in places where you're not supposed to be drinking in the first place. Also, occasionally, you'll find that homeless or exceedingly frugal folks will scavenge trash cans for aluminum, which ends up being a win/win for everyone--they don't have any interest in the glass though.